brayam perez

Nobody Sees Us by Humberto Ak’abal

The flame of our blood burns,
inextinguishable
despite the wind of the centuries.
Quiet,
I sing out of breath,
misery with soul,
sadness cornered.
Oh, I want to cry out!
The lands which they leave us
are the mountainsides,
the slopes:
the rainfalls wash them away little by little
and drag them down to the plains
which don’t belong to us anymore.
Here we are
standing at the road’s edge
with our gaze broken by a tear…
And nobody sees us.

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Paraphrase- Our fire blood is inextinguishable despite the wind of the centries, and I sing, but I have no breath  I'm sad, concerned they left us at the slope of the mountainside. Rainfall washes them away, and drag them across the plains to the land which was once ours leaving us at the edge broken in tears but nobody sees us.
Author/poet- The poet Humberto Ak’abal is a Guatemalan poet who has died this year. He writes his poems in his native language "K'iche" and in Spanish.
Figurative language-  The poet seems to use a lot of imagery due to the fact of his sadness and rage he's shown. Also shows a lot of allusion about how his people were moved which in line 17-18 it says "with our gaze broken by a tear… And nobody sees us." Regardless when they cry nobody is seeing them, acknowledging their pain. They also show a lot of symbolism as well such as fire which in the first line it says "The flame of our blood burns" symbolizes their anger towards the people who removed them from their land.
Tone- The poem seems to be very depressing and just anger. Overall depression and sadness overrun the anger they have towards the people who made the people of the land go to the slope of the mountainsides. Like those roots the land you were born on taken away from you and that hurts more than any injury anyone can receive.
Theme- Despite how many time a person hurt you or take your things they aren't there to see your emotions or acknowledge them. 

 Bibliography:
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/cultural-cross-sections/nobody-sees-us-poetry-humberto-akabal-norman-minnick

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2019 at 2:56 PM

    I think the speaker of the poem has been left behind and has had their lives taken away by someone. There is anger shown by the fire and anguish over losing their homes and lives. When searching up the poet, I found that he lived in Guatemala during the Guatemalan Civil War. This information could connect to the overall subject of this poem, especially in perspective of the people who felt overlooked and believed they could not do anything to help end the war. In the poem it says, "And nobody sees us," relating to those overlooked people.

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2019 at 3:48 AM


    I agree on the fact that the poet expressively showed his anger and grief through the diction of the poem. The literature elements, such as figurative language, had emphasized the pain felt within him and his people. When he mentions that their land is being stripped from them it supported the emotions given within lines 1-8. Your interpretation of the poem was overall through and well written.

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